An inmate at the Minnesota Correctional Facility – Stillwater will spend an additional decade in prison for stabbing and injuring a correctional officer in 2020, a Washington County District Court judge ruled Monday.

Adrian Dominique Bell, 35, was found guilty in September on charges of first-degree assault in connection with the stabbing of a sergeant at the prison during an altercation on June 12, 2020.

According to the criminal complaint filed against him, Bell confronted a correctional officer “concerning a loss of privileges action the CO took against a different inmate.” During the argument, another inmate lunged at a correctional sergeant and punched him in the head. Additional correctional staff immediately responded and attempted to restrain the inmate.

Adrian Dominique Bell (Courtesy of Washington County Jail)

As the physical struggle continued, Bell removed a 5½-inch metal shank from his pocket, ran up to the group, and stabbed a correctional sergeant in the lower torso. After the shank fell from Bell’s hand, Bell then hit the sergeant “several times in the face with a closed fist,” the complaint states.

The sergeant and two additional correctional staff injured in the altercation were transported to Lakeview Hospital in Stillwater for medical treatment. All three were treated for visible injuries, including a puncture wound to the sergeant’s lower torso.

“Inmate assaults on correctional officers are grave offenses that undermine the safety of our prison system and will not be taken lightly,” said Washington County Attorney Kevin Magnuson. “We are grateful to the Minnesota Department of Corrections and the department’s Office of Special Investigations for their dedicated efforts in bringing this case forward. Together, we remain resolute in our pursuit of justice for any acts of violence committed against our dedicated correctional staff.”

At the time of the assault, Bell, formerly of East Bethel, was serving a sentence of just over 13 years at MCF-Stillwater, which is in Bayport, for attempted first-degree murder for repeatedly shooting a longtime acquaintance as he lay napping with his girlfriend at an apartment in Anoka in 2012.

Following his scheduled release from prison in 2021, Bell’s custody was transferred to the Washington County Jail in Stillwater for the duration of the trial in the assault case. He remained in custody at the Washington County Jail on Monday while he awaits transfer to the Minnesota Department of Corrections to serve his new sentence.

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